The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-06-23
AN ESSAY ON POCKETS.
0ae Matter In which Women Are Genera.
tions Behind the Stronger Sex.


most vulnerable part Of the artificial
integument. then pockets may be de-
nominated the most useful. They are
so many invisible reticrles. to whose
| businesses we may consign any thing
from a tOothpick to loaf of bread
Unassuming and retiring in its habits.
the pocket rarely intrudes its presence
on its owner, and its dark recesses form
an opposite storehouse for the most
miscellaneous and heterodox of treas
ures.
Like all things else the pocket has
been evolved, and has advanced to its
present state of compleXity from very
rude beginnings. The genesis of the
pocket is probably to be found in the
wallet or scrip of the ancients. When
our ancestor conceived the idea of in
cooperating the latter with the clothing,
at that precise time was prefigured the
possibilities and potentialities of modern
pockets.
Unfortunately a literature of pockets
does not exist, and in the absence of it
we are left to conjecture as to their
probable origin, illumined by no other
ray than what our ingenuity supplies.
We can fancy the rapture felt by our
primitive ancestor when his exclusive
fancy gave birth to the first pocket.
We wonder if he had any glimmering g
of the enormous Importance of his in
| fa Of
mankind. When Newton discovered
the principle of gravity and Watt the
properties of steam, each of them had
some dim apprehension of the worth to
pOsterity of their respective cOncep-
tions. To the humble inventor Of the
pocket, however, it is unlikely that any
such prescient glimpse was permitted,
and he probably lived and died in ig-
norance of the transcendant Importance
of his discov cry. Society could get
along very we'll without steam. and
very well without gravity, yet while the
names of the discoverers Of these pro-
cesscs are clothed with Immortality.
that of the inventor of the pocket is
unknown.
1t must be obvious to every one that
pockets are dependent for their number
and completely on the sartorial integu-
ment which renders them possible. Man
is still many generations behind the
kangaroo, for while the pouch of the
marsupial is natural, in the case of the
primates it is artificial. Naturalists
tell us that in the animal kingdom the
wish to acquire any particular idiosyn-
Grassy is the father of its development.
As an instance of this, Mr.. Wallace
has made us acquainted with the
habits of certain butterflies, who, wish
ing to be mistaken for leaves, in the
process of time. come to acquire the
coveted trait, to such happy purpose
that even the birds who prey on them
are deluded by the resemblance. So
with pockets, we may reason that what
man now initiates artificially, he will
in the course of ages come to possess
naturally, and emerge from his present
chrysalis and imperfect state full
blown marsupial.
Having considered the pocket in its
strictly scientific aspect, let US consider
it in its social and general one. The
Importance of the pocket is best shown
by the number of articles to which it has
lent its name. There are pOcket-books,
and pocket-knives, and even pocket
boroughs. The last twenty years has
seen n wonderful development in these
sack-like resources of civilization. The
hip pocket, with it's beautiful crescent
shaped orifce, is an American institu-
ton. rarely found out of the country of
its origin. European natives are pro-
verbally slow to appreciate our
inventions, but in no instance is their
want of adaptability to occasion more
plainly shown than in the reluctant
way they take to the hip pocket. The
latter, we maintain, is the summum
bonum of marsupial development. 1t
not only subserves thousand purposes
of usefulness. but with its arc-shaped
opening is positively thing of beauty.
Next to being without pockets of any
kind, the worst calamity that can be-
fall man is for them to have holes.
Ordinarily most trustworthy and re-
liable repository, a pocket with a hole
in it is more dangerous than treacher-
Gus friend. 'Tis a leak in the conduit
of marsupial energy, menace to our
solvency and drain on our small
change. Of all the Christian virtues
with which pockets are associated. hope
is the most distinguished. Former dis
appointments never damp our ardor in
investigating pockets. and if, as rarely
happens, our explorations are rewarded
by the discovery of store, our faith in
the formers possibilities is rendered
firm for all time.
In the matter of pockets women are
generations behind men. The reticu-
lar conveniences, which are source
of delight to the latter seem to be quite
unappreciated by the former. We
must confess to the sad truth that
women as pouch-bearers are failures.
The art of picking pockets we believe
is better understood in Europe than
America; at any rate the more expert
professors of it seem to hail from the
Old World A certain Darlington is
said to be the father of the industry,
and many tales are told of his amazing
dexterity, which, however, were futile
to save him from involuntary expatria-
ton. This same Barrin gton was some